By BISS List Contributing Editor Josh Danson

Interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity

March 18, 2025

I last spoke with Chris Wood, the renowned bass virtuoso who first found fame as a member of Medeski, Martin & Wood and then as a founding member of The Wood Brothers, almost exactly ten years ago. A lot has changed for Chris in the intervening years – a global pandemic, getting married, surviving a tornado in Tennessee only to end up living in Canada. But one thing hasn’t changed, Chris and The Wood Brothers’ commitment to playing and recording authentic music that speaks to matters of the heart while striving for peace of mind.

This time, we talked about how making music in challenging times like these can provide a much-needed sense of connection and presence. How, when you feel unmoored or unsure of the next move, you should breathe, listen and trust your heart to guide you. The songs on The Wood Brothers most recent album, Heart is the Hero, recorded analog and with only acoustic instruments, is a reflection of that ethos. Songs like the title track, “Heart is the Hero,” “So Far from Alone,” and “Worst Pain of All,” all speak to the struggles that we have all faced in the past decade – and as part of the shared human condition – and the power of love, grace and being present through it all to overcome those challenges. But the music on Heart is the Hero is not all deep, philosophical stuff, it percolates and dances with countless influences and inflections, from Blues and Americana, to Latin and Soul, and points in between.

The Grammy-nominated Wood Brothers recently finished recording their latest self-produced album on the Honey Jar label, and are in the process of mixing and mastering, with the finished product set for release sometime this summer. They are currently touring the West coast and will be playing The Fillmore in San Francisco on Saturday, March 22nd. 

BISS List: Hi Chris, how’s it going? I don’t know if you recall, but we spoke almost exactly 10 years ago.

Chris Wood: I’m sorry, I don’t.

BL: No worries, I didn’t expect you to. I just wanted to mention it as a reminder. Things have changed a lot since then. Some for the good, some for the bad. Back then the process for getting these interviews published was a lot more onerous. I had to “hand transcribe” everything. I would have to go back and listen to every sentence two or three times to get it right and I figured out that it took me about 10 minutes of transcription time for every one minute of conversation. So, you know, if you have a 30 minute conversation… But nowadays, with AI, the transcription tools have actually gotten pretty decent, so there are some benefits to the technology.

CW: You don’t miss writing it all out? [Laughs]

BL: You know, there was kind of a benefit to doing it the old-fashioned way, because you had to pour over it all a little bit more and really immerse yourself in the content.

CW: Yeah, you can’t internalize it as much now.

BL: Yeah, yeah, there was that, and I’ll still do that to a certain extent. Go back over and re-listen to our conversation. Obviously, you can’t just trust the AI to do an error-free job, especially when you’re getting the weeds about music and musicians.

CW: Yeah, oh God yeah, please don’t leave it all to AI. It might make me say some off-color stuff.

You: Haha, yeah. Gotta watch out for that!

So anyway, good to chat with you again. Sounds like you guys are getting ready to head out on a West Coast swing pretty soon.

CW: Yeah.

BL: Are you back east currently, in the studio? Or what have you been doing this winter?

CW: This winter? Well, we’ve been real busy finishing up a new record, which in reality means in late October we spent a couple weeks in the studio and recorded a whole bunch of new songs and then in January… So I don’t live in Nashville anymore. I live in British Columbia, in Canada.

BL: Oh wow, cool!

CW: Yeah.

BL: When did that change come about?

CW: It was… It’s a pandemic story. It completely turned my life upside down. I ended up, for a whole bunch of reasons, in British Columbia and I live on this little island in the southern gulf, and basically I’m a farmer when I’m home.

BL: That’s amazing.

CW: Yeah, it’s a long story, but… it sure is interesting living in Canada at this particular moment.

BL: Yeah, I bet.

CW: So yeah, I travel to Nashville to record and to do all the record work. And then when we were on the road we were able to get a lot of remote work done. Our engineer was mixing the record during the tour. We just got back from the southeast tour, so we were together making decisions about it every day. You know, when people picture making a record, they probably picture just this one concentrated moment in the studio, which is partly that, but it’s a whole bunch of other lingering decisions and listening and agonizing, and that happens after the really fun part of creation. So, that’s one of the things we’ve been doing and we’re very excited about a new record coming out this summer. And otherwise just doing some touring. Like I said we got back from a tour of the southeast.

BL: Right. Very good. Well, like I said, it’s been almost exactly 10 years since we last spoke – that was in January 2015 – and I think you guys were still touring on The Muse that had come out in 2013, and you also had another album that was almost in the can then – so, similar circumstances.

CW: Right.

BL: I imagine quite a bit has changed for you over that time, both professionally and on a personal level.

CW: Yeah, like it’s unbelievable how much has changed.

BL: Right? So yeah, I don’t know how much you want to get into that, and I think some of my other questions will touch on that as well, as far as how that’s affected the music. But yeah, what a sea change. The last 10 years have just been so insane. So, you moved to British Columbia during the pandemic at some point?

CW: Yeah, the woman I’m married to now tried to move to Nashville at the beginning of 2020, and that did not go well. [Laughs]

BL: Hah, gotcha. That sucks.

CW: You know, because as you can imagine, all the things. Mainly the pandemic, but first of all, there was a huge tornado that destroyed our neighborhood.

BL: Oh my God!

CW: Then the pandemic hit literally a few days later, which meant I lost my job, but which also meant that the destruction we were living in never got fixed up because the economy ground to a halt. So yeah, it was just this… Everyone has their own crazy pandemic story, but for us it was this bizarre limbo of living in what felt like a warzone. Not being able to work. My wife was going to continue traveling back-and-forth to Canada to work, but couldn’t because of all the restrictions at the border, and the two weeks minimum that you had to isolate, so it just was insanity. And then of course there were all the other crazy things that happened during 2020. And by the end of it we still didn’t know when it was gonna’ end, you know? At the end of 2020, there was still no end in sight. So, it really felt like our only choice to survive was to go up to Canada, where at least she could work. So that’s how I ended up as a permanent resident of Canada.

BL: Well, good for you. It’s sounding more and more like a good idea to me as well! [Laughs]

CW: Well, yes and no. I mean…

BL: Yeah?

CW: I think when you’re inside the beast of the US, all the craziness that is happening right now, it’s not pointed at you… Well, I say that very generally, because obviously it is very much pointed at a lot of people inside the US. But as a country, in the same way that Ukraine feels bullied by Russia, Canadians are feeling very bullied by the US right now. Like, it ain’t a joke! And I think people in the US kind of shrugged their shoulders and were like, oh that’s just silly rhetoric, but it feels very real up here. Like, the way he’s talking makes it feel like, are we the next Ukraine?

BL: Right? Yeah.

CW: So, it’s just bizarre right now being up here. So, in some ways I’m grateful, but it’s weird. And it’s like a separate reality, the way people interpret what’s happening.

BL: Yeah, yeah I can imagine. 

Well, last time we spoke we talked about how you and Oliver have been fortunate enough to avoid any major sibling-band blow up like the Robinsons or the Gallagher brothers. Are you guys still getting along? Or just barely tolerated each other? Or has this brought you closer together?

CW: It’s definitely brought us closer together. I mean, I feel like we have a pretty healthy, I don’t know if competitive is the right way to describe it, but like the same way you think – and I’m not comparing us to them – but I think of how McCartney and Lennon had this competition thing going and yet there were this brilliant team. We have our own little version of that, you know? Where he comes up with things that I would never think of and I come up with things that maybe he wouldn’t have thought of. And it’s this back-and-forth. And then there’s Jano [Rix], our drummer, and he’s doing the exact same thing in his own way. So, it’s been this great collaborative effort. And more and more, as time goes by, we just have more fun creating music together and trusting each other’s opinions, trusting each other so that we can produce each other, because we self-produce everything. And you can’t do that with just anybody. Like, I take their opinions very seriously. Sometimes you think you know what’s right, but then if they disagree, I’m like, OK I’m really gonna’ question that, because they might have the objective perspective that I need right now and that any creative person needs when they get too close to, or too inside their work. It’s so cool. It’s such a privilege to be in a real band that has that mutual democratic respect and can function that way.

BL: Yeah, but you have to really trust those people and not think they have an agenda, or anything like that, I’m sure.

CW: Oh yeah, absolutely. And I 100% do. All anybody cares about in this band is to make shit the best it can be, whatever that means, you know? There’s no like, “Oh, but that was my idea.” “This is your idea.” It’s just like, here’s something that came to me, but I don’t know what to do with it. Let’s make this amazing.

BL: Yeah, I was actually going to ask you about that, about the writing process, if it’s a collaborative one, or if you each tend to bring in songs that are more fully-fleshed out.

CW: Well, how it usually happens is that Oliver and I are the ones pumping out lyrics and Jano presents musical ideas. And often what happens is – it depends on the song you know – some songs Oliver and I will just have the beginning of an idea. Like, I have this idea for a song, but it’s just a sketch you know? And then I can sort of hand it off and see where they take it. And then, of course, there’s other ones that come to you a little more fully formed. But then when they get their ears on it, they might have ideas that really steer it in a different direction. Or refine the verses. Because the lyrics are so important. They don’t have to make sense, but they have to give you a feeling and they have to create images, you know? And sometimes, if you are too attached to what they’re supposed to mean, you kinda’ lose sight of their potential.

BL: Yeah, that’s a good insight. So, I think speaking to what you were just talking about, you mentioned that you guys have produced your last few albums on your own Honey Jar label. Has that arrangement provided you with more creative freedom, or  allowed you to grow more on the production side of things?

CW: Completely, yeah. So, we have a studio in Nashville and then… it’s sort of cooperative. It’s basically The Wood Brothers and our engineer Brook Sutton, who’s done the last couple records. He runs the studio as a private business, so there’s bands in and out of there all the time recording. But we have all our stuff there, sometimes we’ll rehearse there and we record all our records there. And Brook is our guy. He’s like the fourth member. So as that relationship has developed it’s really become a team effort with Brook. And this record that we’re just finishing up now is fun because it’s the first one where we did everything in-house. It used to be we would record with Brooke and then we’d send out the tracks to get mixed by someone. You know, there’s so many great mixers out there, and you just send them your stuff and you see what they do. But this time we did it all in-house and we had Brooke do the mixes. So, it just kept it in the family for the whole process, which was really kind of fun.

BL: Very cool. And you’re not talking about Heart is the Hero, right? You’re talking about the one that’s just now in post-production mode, right?

CW: Exactly. It literally just got mastered, which means it’ll be out late August. I think that’s what’s scheduled.

BL: Right on. Did you record it live? Like, was this a similar recording process as with Heart is the Hero? I really liked how stripped down and honest sounding the last album was. And I gather that was because it was recorded, or at least part of the reason was because it was analog, recorded on tape, as opposed to digital. Is that right? And if so, did you take the same approach on this one? Or if not, how did you approach this one?

CW: No, I would say this one is much more adventurous. You know, in line with maybe something closer to what Kingdom in my Mind was. I think there’s much more exploration. We’re exploring some different musical territory that we haven’t really done before. Some instrumentation stuff that we hadn’t really done before. There’s more horns. More, you know, sonic stuff… And definitely something that was weird about Heart is the Hero, which was not preconceived, it wasn’t intentional, but there’s not one electric guitar on that whole album. And it just worked out that way. We didn’t mean to do that, but every time we were trying to find the right sounds for a song, at least for the studio version – it doesn’t necessarily happen that way live – but we found that acoustic guitars for some reason were great, and by the time we finished the record, we were like, “Oh shit! We did the whole thing with not a single electric guitar.” So, you know, this record has a lot more electric guitar and has a wide variety of stylistic stuff. Even some more Latin stuff. Some of our Latin roots. We have all kinds of influences that we’ve not necessarily ever put into a Wood Brothers song, but that are things we love. So we’re kind of, over time, letting ourselves let them out of the bag, so to speak.

BL: Ah, that’s cool. And that makes sense. I wonder if it’s like a chicken or the egg kind of thing, you know? Because you decided to record analog you also decided to go all acoustic. Or was it the other way around? Or maybe it was just whatever you needed, in order to produce the finished product, is how you went.

CW: What’s so much fun about recording a record for us is that we write all these songs that are more or less finished in advance. But we have no idea when we get in the studio which instrument we’re gonna’ choose, or which microphones Brooke is gonna’ choose, or are we gonna’ do it all the same room together, or are we gonna’ isolate ourselves so that every sound is… there’s no bleed in the microphone, you know? So that’s when the songs are really kind of birthed, because then you finally hear our interpretations which are based on all these split-second decisions the day that we record. Like, “I’m not gonna’ use this guitar, I’m gonna’ use this one.” And, “I think I’m gonna’ use electric bass on the song,” and we make all these split-second decisions and of course, if it’s not working, will change our minds. But if it’s working, then we just go with it. And you kinda’ don’t know until you do some trial and error. And when it’s right, we all know. But you don’t know in advance. And that’s what’s so cool. Then at the end of the day you’re like, “Wow, I never thought that song would turn out sounding like that!” It’s crazy. In the end, it’s like, we’re not in control. You know? We’re just kind of following the muse, so to speak.

BL: Hah, totally. No pun intended. And it must be particularly rewarding to do that on your own. You guys have had some great producers over the years – Buddy Miller, Dan Auerbach, and whoever else – but to be able to do that on your own. Take the lessons that you’ve learned from those guys and then do it yourself, that must be particularly rewarding.

CW: It is. But again, just to circle back. Only because we trust each other to produce each other. Because there’s times where I know what’s right and maybe Jano or Oliver’s questioning it and it’s like, “Oh trust me, what you’re doing is perfect.” And there’s times when I’m filled with doubt and I’m like, “Guys, just produce me through this ‘cause I’m a little lost,” you know? So, because we have that dynamic, we can do it. I really admire people who self-produce without a team. I think of early Beck records where I know he did everything himself. And I’m like “Damn!” That’s a gift to be able to self-produce and have it really turn out at a high-level.

BL: Yeah, that’s amazing.

A lot of your music deals with and speaks to matters of the heart and the power of love and grace to help us through tough times and decrease the distance between people. I think that is especially and explicitly so on Heart is the Hero. I got the sense that you were also dealing with some deeper, more existential issues that may have derived from the Covid era. Like, “Worst Pain of All” seems to speak to some of the despair and mental health challenges that many of us went through in those years, and also “So Far From Alone”. And I’ve been thinking a lot recently about how music has been such a saving grace for so many of us in these tough times and through the recent struggles that we’ve all been going through, and I wonder if that was in your thoughts when you were making Heart is the Hero?

CW: Yeah, I think it always is. I mean, we always keep coming back to that sense that connection, whether it’s with the other humans, whether it’s with music, whether it’s a spiritual thing – for some people, drugs and alcohol – but it’s something that you feel that gives you a sense that you’re connected to something, you know? So obviously, there’s healthy ways to do that and sustainable ways to do that, and unsustainable ways to find that connection. And in order to keep it healthy, or keep it sustainable, our mantra which shows up in two different songs on Heart is the Hero, is the idea that… Because we’re also talking a lot about a sense of “presence” and we have our own language for talking about that, like staying present and enjoying the moment – all that stuff that people talk about when they talk about whatever eastern philosophy of your choice. But I think we all agree that while doing those simple things, like breathing and just being in the moment, maybe even enjoying the moment, enjoying everything that’s happening even if it’s not perfect. The hardest thing about it is to remember to do it.

BL: Yeah, for sure.

CW: You know? So that’s why I think two songs have this line – “Remember to remember.” That became kind of a theme for the record.

BL: That’s cool. Yeah, I really felt that when everybody was going through whatever we all experienced during that era and we were all just working through it, to have music as that connection, as that point of connection, was so important.

CW: Yeah, and our minds just go nuts and then we forget to remember and suddenly we’re flipping out about one thing or another, so just remembering to remember… It’s something we try to do on stage and we talk a lot about it. Like we have this thing on stage that like we created as short-hand for when you’re not feeling grounded. We call it the “BLT,” and it’s simply that you take a breath – you breathe, the B – and then you listen, and then you trust that if you breathe and listen, you’re gonna’ know what to do. You don’t have to stress out about it. You don’t have to think about it, or be worried if you’re good or bad. Like, all that shit goes out the window and you just BLT. Breathe – listen – trust, that if you do that and pay attention, it’ll come to you, the next move. It’ll happen because you’re interacting with your environment instead of with your thoughts. It’s such simple stuff, but we just forget over and over again to actually implement it, to do it.

BL: Yeah, exactly. Music really is one of those places, one of those spaces, where you can just really be in the moment. I’m a big fly fisherman and that’s another thing for me. It’s another great escape where I’m just totally present in the moment, not thinking about anything else. I’m waist deep in the river trying to think like a fish and I’m not thinking about any bullshit politics or anything else. And the same thing goes with being in a room full of great music and people dancing and focusing on the music, you’re not thinking about any of the other B.S.

CW: Yeah, yeah, it’s a great feeling. It’s something to pursue and it never gets old. Like pursuing that, because you’re constantly reminded that you can’t do it. The thing that you think is you, can’t do it. I can’t play in time by trying to do it. All I can do is let the beat from the drums hit my body and my body is gonna’ know exactly what to do. But if I think about it for one second, I’m already behind or ahead of the beat. So, you’re constantly just reminding yourself, it ain’t you [Laughs], it’s just shit happening, you know?

BL: Yeah, that’s a great revelation.

Well, I gather you’re the father to at least one daughter. I’m also a “girl-dad,” so the song “Mean Man World,” really resonated with me, thinking of the challenges that our daughters have to face. And then looking back on the title track of The Muse, you sang about the joy of fatherhood and holding your newborn in your arms, so I’m wondering if you think being a father has opened you up to being able to access greater emotional depths, and how it has changed your approach to music making or songwriting.

CW: I mean, it’s definitely one of the things that has. Being a parent is obviously really ass-kicking and humbling in a lot of ways, and it’s just a giant mirror for your own shit, you know? But I think the older you get, and once your kids grow up and they’re out of the house, you get a lot of that from any intense, hard thing that you go through. You know? It informs your gratitude. Anybody who’s survived – and this again is a theme that comes up in a lot of our songs – but anybody who’s survived real hardship, and ends up a little bit broken, also ends up a little bit soulful. You know that they get a perspective and an appreciation for the world that you don’t have before you go through something like that. So, I cherish all the intense, hard things I’ve gone through, and still go through, because on the other side of that I have gratitude and appreciation for life that I didn’t have before. So yeah.

BL: Yeah, I hear ya’. So, I don’t know if you’ve heard this before. I’m sure you have. But I definitely hear some echoes of The Band on Heart is the Hero. Obviously, you guys are a three piece versus five piece, but you guys performed and recorded at Levon’s place in Woodstock and I’m wondering, with the recent passing of Garth, the last surviving member of The Band, if you have any stories about those guys or any thoughts on how they inspired you personally, or as a band, or anything like that.

CW: Yeah, definitely an inspiration. I know in the 90s I was in another group, Medeski, Martin and Wood, and I remember someone telling me about The Band because they were talking about me and John Medeski and Billy Martin being like this weird family and that was the reference. Like, “You guys remind me of The Band.” And they weren’t talking about the music, they were talking about us being in these contentious, brotherly relationships. They basically lived together up in Woodstock, and they kind of got along, but they also kind of didn’t get along. [Laughs]

BL: Yep, Yep.

CW: But musically, I think, like a lot of people, it wasn’t until I saw The Last Waltz, that I was like, “Oh shit!” And that made a big impact. And then, of course, the more you learn about them you learn all kinds of interesting, weird facts about that movie. [Laughs] But what really brought it together for us is I lived in Woodstock for years. In Saugerties actually, right next-door.

BL: Right by the Big Pink!

CW: Yeah, yeah, I did. I was very close to the Big Pink. And then I was actually in a band with Levon’s daughter, Amy.

BL: Ah, right.

CW: And mainly I was touring back then, but when I was home we had friends all over Woodstock and then of course ended up hanging out with Levon and going to the Rambles and ended up playing some of the Rambles. So, it was really cool. It was like… Hanging out with him in his kitchen was this weird teleporting experience, just listening to him tell stories. Listening to his accent. And then you know, standing like two feet away from him when he’s playing the drums and his smile and the energy that he put out. That was the biggest, most powerful, direct influence I would say, even though we listen to The Band’s records and everything. But being with Levon in person, I think that was the coolest influence of all, just feeling his direct energy in the room.

You: Oh man, that must’ve been amazing. Well, I think you guys honor his legacy, their legacy, very much with your music.

So anyway, you guys are playing the Fillmore on March 22nd. I’m very much looking forward to that.

CW: Me too.

BL: And it looks like you’ve got a great summer tour lined up with a bunch of fun festival dates as well as Red Rocks in the middle of July. Any gigs that you’re particularly looking forward to, or things on the calendar that we might not be aware of that you want to highlight?

CW: I don’t know. I don’t really think ahead to gigs that much. I guess it’s all part of staying in the moment. Like it doesn’t do me any good, and if there’s one thing I’ve learned over the years, there’s no way to predict whether you’re gonna’ have a good show or a bad show. Or it’s gonna’ be a good day or a bad day, in advance. You just don’t know. Because the thing with planning tours and being a musician is your whole year gets mapped out months in advance, right? And in the beginning it’s easy to look at all the different cities and be like, “Oh, I love that place!” and “Oh, that’s gonna’ be a fun day.” And then, “Look at that day, that’s gonna’ be horrible. We’re gonna’ have to travel and…” And then, in reality, the day you thought that was gonna’ be a disaster turns out to be super fun for some weird reason you never expected. And the day that you thought was gonna’ be amazing and an incredible show, you’re miserable, and for some reason, nothing clicks. And so, it’s just… you can’t predict it. It’s just useless. It’s a waste of time. So, I’m just glad that I get to go out and play music in front of people with my brother and Jano, my other brother. And that’s it. That’s as far as I get. Just enjoying actually doing it whenever it’s happening.

BL: Well, there you go!

CW: That’s it. That’s all I got.

BL: Well that was great. Thank you so much. I’m gonna’ let you go and not take up any more of your time, but thank you. 

CW: Awesome, appreciate that.

BL: All right, have a great rest of your day, great rest of your week and I will look forward to seeing you at The Fillmore on the 22nd!

CW: You too.

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The Wood Brothers are playing The Fillmore in San Francisco on Sat, March 22nd. You can purchase tickets here.

**Read the last interview with Chris Wood from January 13, 2015**